The Indian Premier League is ready to roll with a heady mix of cricket and glamor on display in the opening match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers on 04/18/2008.

Shah Rukh Khan owned Vijay Mallya’s Knight Riders and Royal Challengers

will kick off the 44-day Twenty20 tournament that has several

international stars playing alongside the best of domestic India

cricket and rookies under-19.

Conflicting emotions that burn in the hearts of players when they look around, they will also see quite a few familiar faces here, but how many of them will actually evoke smiles in their hearts? Worse still, will some trigger unpleasant memories or even stoke latent anger? In fact, will they find themselves between teammates or opponents?

Actually, you can blame cricket for this denouement. Over the years, it has morphed into a dangerous war of egos, an affair in which it is won at all costs. Bad blood and resentment between teams has become so ingrained that it is no longer latent; you can feel it, even see it quite regularly.

England and Australia have always fought their battles to the limit. But today, almost every team is the number one enemy of everyone else. If Australia does not support India or New Zealand, South Africa will not give an inch to Sri Lanka or England. And that is just the beginning.

Arguably, the game has been downgraded to this level due to Australia’s overt display of aggression. For a long time, his players hid behind the facade of mental disintegration to irritate and intimidate rival teams. Today, after years of subjugation and defeat, the others have finally got to work: it is nothing more than riding a sleigh in disguise.

Now, thanks to the IPL and all the money, most will have to sit in the same locker room and strategize. For 44 days, enemies will become friends and friends become enemies. But how many secrets will actually be uncovered during those brainstorming sessions?